Bloodkin (Jaseth of Jaelshead) Read online

  We stood to greet the newcomers but Jimmy pushed us down and came and squished between us on the couch. “None of that! Now, proper introductions.”

  I counted fourteen people in the room, seven Humans and seven Nea’thi, and they pulled up chairs around us and began to introduce themselves. Jimmy’s Bloodkin was a small, dark girl named Lolitha, her black hair bobbed neatly just below her ears, who would barely even look me in the eye and seemed distinctly uncomfortable as Jimmy bade her sit in a chair next to me. The three tall youths who grouped together were Dunkerle, Sammoch and Donnick and their Mentors were introduced to us as Richard, James and Adam. The other two girls settled on the other couch. One was plump and pretty, her long auburn hair bound in a sophisticated knot, and she smiled at me dreamily, introducing herself as Mantilly; her Mentor Sarah was whippet-thin and grinning wickedly. The other girl shifted her fashionable skirts and looked around haughtily, her blonde hair falling in graceful curls around a perfect face. Her Mentor Emma introduced her as Sallagh and she raised her sculpted eyebrows at me and I realised I was staring. I blushed and looked down but was startled by a loud voice.

  “Oi, he’s from old J-town you reckon? Give us a look then!” I looked up at a giant of a boy, lounging casually in front of the fire. His Mentor Toѫeneж – Thomas – smiled gently.

  “Jaseth, this is Telgeth, from your district I believe.” He spoke quietly with a deep voice, and was the oldest of the Nea’thi present, judging by the fine lines around his eyes.

  “Oh ho, I know you! You’re the Lord’s boy! Shit, how did you end up here?” Telgeth ran a hand through his shock of bright orange hair, mussing it into mad spikes.

  “Telgeth dear, language! Jaseth is here for the same reason you all are,” Thomas admonished gently, but Telgeth just grinned at me. He looked a bit familiar, I suppose, but I felt completely out of my depth with all these people my own age aroundme.

  “My Da’s the head of the Smith’s Guild back home. I was training to be a smith myself before old Tommo here showed up. Hell, can you imagine what I can do with this magic stuff?”

  “Hầұeӣ,” corrected Thomas absently. I couldn’t think of anything intelligent to say, so unfortunately I blurted out the first thing that popped into my brain.

  “Head of the Guild? I think I was supposed to marry your sister!”

  Telgeth shrieked with laughter, earning a disapproving look from Sallagh, who until now had appeared disinterested, talking quietly with Mantilly.

  “Olletha? Shit, no way!”

  “’Geth, language!”

  “Sorry Tommo, my bad, Oh man Jas, you got away lightly with that one, my sister is a total cow!”

  Everyone laughed except me, and I felt like an idiot. Yep, I was giving off a really good first impression. I busied myself with my glass of wine.

  “Hmph, we didn’t get wine with our dinner tonight” Sallagh complained loudly.

  Emma patted her on the shoulder. “No dear, but we did on our first night here too.” Sallagh sniffed, but had the good grace to lower her head. “And your classes don’t begin until Monday, so maybe tomorrow night we’ll indulge.” The girl smiled faintly as the rest of the boys cheered Emma’s words.

  I had totally lost track of the days when we had been on the road. My memory struggled, we had been travelling for what, eight? Nine days? And we’d left on a Wednesday so…

  “Today’s Friday,” Charlie told me helpfully, noticing my scrunched brow, “So we’ve got the whole weekend before you get into it.”

  “Yes,” said Thomas in his rumbly voice, “We have all weekend. Perhaps we’d all better get some rest, Charlie and Jaseth look exhausted.”

  There was a mumble of protestation, most loudly from Telgeth, but nonetheless everyone stood and began moving towards the door. Charlie grabbed the nearly empty bottle of wine and we followed the others downstairs. On the second floor the pairs of Humans and Nea’thi peeled off into their private quarters down the corridor to a chorus of loud good nights. Lolitha and Jimmy had the room next to ours, and as we opened our door Jimmy called out “Goodnight Ϛaioћ, ‘night Jaseth. If you need anything just… bang on the wall!”

  Lolitha glanced at me mournfully for a second before she disappeared inside her room and closed the door firmly behind her, and the hallway was finally silent.

  Alone in our rooms I collapsed in an armchair near the fire, completely wearied but jittery with the hundreds of questions I wanted to ask Charlie as he bustled about the room, unpacking the last of his things.

  “Charlie?”

  “Hmm?” His response was muffled by the bag he had his head in, rummaging around.

  “What’s with your names? You know, your Human-friendly names?”

  “Ha!” He retrieved the remaining items with a flourish. “Well, we all know that Humans can’t speak Nea’thi, you can hardly even pronounce some of the sounds in our alphabet. So when we pass the Journeyman’s test—”

  “Gosh, you have to write a test?” I interrupted.

  “Yes, well, a written test is part of it, but that’s all theory. The really hard part is the psychological examination.” I looked at him questioningly, and he rolled his eyes and explained. “Yeah, there’s a board of examiners who decide whether you’re mature and emotionally stable enough to handle the Outside, so you won’t get into trouble I suppose. It’s quite… uncomfortable.”

  I pondered this for a second. “With magic?”

  “Hầұeӣ. But yes, they poke around in your head for a bit with Hầұeӣ, not a pleasant feeling, I can tell you!”

  “Huh, sounds intense. Anyway, the name thing?” I prompted.

  “Oh yeah!” Charlie levered himself into the other chair. “So when we pass the test we get to choose a Human name, so we study Human texts to find one that we like and that sounds a bit like our real name.”

  “But they’re all so… weird!”

  Charlie cackled. “Yeah, that’s the good bit. So many of the texts we have are old, dating from the time of the Leaving or even earlier, so the names we choose are often a bit, ah, archaic.” He grinned ruefully.

  “But surely there are people down there who know this! Couldn’t someone who’s been Outside tell you you’re picking ridiculous names?”

  Charlie chortled and clapped his hands. “But where’s the fun in that? Journeymen head Outside thinking they are oh- so-sophisticated with their new Human names.” He leaned forward and steepled his fingers together, intoning, “Humility is a gift, the receipt of which is often disagreeable,” and he sat back with a laugh.

  “You’re serious?”

  “Deadly! Hey, it’s character-building! And I’m told Humans find the practice rather charming.”

  “So what’s so funny about ‘Steven’ then?”

  “Steven? Oh, it’s another word for the subject of a particularly cruel prank.”

  “Oh.” I guess I could see why that would be funny for the Nea’thi. Maybe.

  Charlie leaned forward conspiratorially. “Do you want to know why I chose Charlie?”

  “Go on then.”

  “Well, it sounds a bit like Ϛaioћлeжa, of course, but I read somewhere that Charlie is another word for snow, and snow is white, right? Like my hair! I thought I was being especially clever, but when I came Outside, no one seemed to get the joke!”

  I snorted. “I don’t know where you’re getting this stuff, man.”

  Charlie sighed and leaned back. “Out of date texts. Seriously out of date!”

  We laughed and settled into a comfortable silence as I digested this information, until Charlie yawned loudly.

  “Hey, maybe after all this excitement we should get some rest. I’ll show you round the Quarter tomorrow, it’ll be an adventure!”

  Then I was yawning too. Thoughts of more adventure seemed entirely too exhausting. I drained the last of the wine from my glass and stood, Charlie following suit. He patted me on the shoulder as he headed for his door.

  “Good to finally be
here, eh?”

  “It sure is. ‘Night Charlie, hope you sleep well.”

  “You too, kiddo. You too.”

  hen I woke I was utterly disorientated. I hadn’t managed to close my curtains properly before falling into bed, and sunlight was streaming in the windows. I rolled over with a groan and tried to block out the light and go back to sleep but the enormity of the previous day’s events and the realisation that we were finally here roused me from drowsiness. I pulled the curtains and gasped a little as the full splendour of Lille was lit by broad daylight. Our Hall was right on the south edge of the Nea’thi Quarter. Laid out in front of me was a jumble of Human-style buildings and beyond them glittered the lake. I opened a window and fresh air flooded in, along with the sounds of the city – people shouting and laughing, dogs barking, and the faint sound of waves washing on the lake shore. When I stuck my head out the window and craned to the left I could just see the castle, huge and majestic perched atop its island. Out my right window I could see the edge of the Quarter and the expanse of the city, trailing down to the docks in the west. Even from this distance I could see the activity, fishing boats that looked like toys were being swarmed over by tiny figures bringing in the catch. It would seem that not everyone in the city had the luxury of a weekend.

  The sun was high up in the sky and I realised I must have slept through most of the morning. As if on cue my belly rumbled and I began to get ready to go find some breakfast. I pulled on my cleanest clothes, though they were still a bit travel-stained and grubby. Clearly I would have to find the laundry. I wondered if I had enough coin to buy some new clothes, perhaps something a bit more fashionable for my new city life. An image of Sallagh’s perfect face flashed into my mind. Yes, well, looking good certainly would be a help with the ladies, she hadn’t seemed that impressed with my appearance last night.

  Out in our living room I found Charlie surrounded by half-empty boxes, humming happily to himself.

  “Jas! You’re up! Hell kid, I thought you were going to sleep forever!”

  “You could have woken me,” I replied grumpily, picking my way through the chaos to the bathroom to relieve myself. When I came back in Charlie was standing proudly in front of the fireplace, already swept and set again, ready for the evening.

  “Here, I got you some breakfast, how about I go and grab us some coffee?”

  Without waiting for a reply he bounded out of the room and I could hear his footsteps thumping faintly on the stairs as he made his way up to the kitchen. There was a plate of pastries on the side table which I greedily devoured, belatedly hoping Charlie hadn’t wanted any. He returned, holding a big pitcher of coffee and two mugs which he poured for us both, handing me one before sitting, cradling his steaming drink.

  “Look, all my stuff has arrived! I had it sent straight from Fortesta when I knew I was coming here, but I didn’t expect it to arrive so soon!”

  “Yeah, cool,” I muttered, still half asleep.

  Charlie laughed and drained his mug freakishly quickly, the coffee was still boiling hot.

  “Ooh, I have to show you these.” He bounced up and retrieved two small, flat items from one of the boxes. “My most treasured possessions,” he said proudly, removing their brown paper wrapping and offering them for my inspection. They were two watercolour paintings, framed in gilt. One was a delicate landscape, of Lille I realised, looking over the lake towards the city from the direction we had entered yesterday. It was minutely detailed, the washes of colour giving it a dreamlike, yet familiar feeling, reflected patches of sun on the lake seeming almost to glimmer. I gasped when I noticed the signature.

  “Ashlu? Seriously? This must be worth a fortune!” Charlie grinned and nodded, and I handed it back to him to scrutinise the other painting. It was a portrait of an attractive Nea’thi woman. Unused to Nea’thi measures of beauty, I could still tell that she was remarkably handsome. Her grey skin was slightly green in hue and her eyes, huge even by Nea’thi standards, were so red as to be almost violet. Her long white hair was coiled gracefully and her generous lips were slightly curved, as if she had been caught enjoying some private joke. The tiny signature in the bottom right-hand corner was the same – Ashlu 583.

  “Gosh Charlie, she’s pretty. Who is she?” I looked up to see Charlie blushing slightly.

  “She was… a good friend of mine. She was very kind to me when I was first here as a Journeyman.”

  “Oh yeah?” I was disbelieving. Charlie would hardly have had Ashlu paint a portrait of a mere ‘friend’.

  “Oh, yes, well. Consider it a young man’s crush on a beautiful older woman.” He sighed wistfully and I raised my eyebrows at him. “Oh, nothing happened! Nothing like that!”

  “Hmph, yeah, sure. How on earth did you manage to get hold of these?” Ashlu was the most famous artist of our time, renowned throughout the country. For the past twenty-odd years he had held the contract for painting the portraits of the Candidates at election time, but a private commission would cost a ridiculously huge amount of money.

  Charlie chuckled. “They were payment for some help I gave him.”

  “Really? That must have been some help!”

  “Ha, yeah, you do end up doing some very odd jobs when you’re a Journeyman for sure. I helped him with some… difficult customers.”

  “You magicked them?”

  “Oh Jas, always so suspicious. I hardly had to use my Hầұeӣ at all! I’m very good with Humans you know, that’s why I became a Mentor!”

  “Oh!” I had never considered why Charlie had chosen this particular career. “So what’s he like then, this famous artist?”

  Charlie hooted. “Mad as a hatter! Like all genius-types I suppose, that’s why he needed my help – not much in the way of social skills. Hold up, I’ll just hang this one here,” he moved over to the fireplace and lined up a round black blob on the back of the landscape with a similar one on the wall. He closed his eyes in concentration for a second then pulled his hands away, the painting remained fixed to the wall.

  “Your, uh, Hyaven?”

  “Indeed! Handy stuff this magic business eh?” He took the portrait from me, “But this one’s going in my room.” He grinned sheepishly and disappeared into his bedroom to hang the painting.

  I finished my coffee and poured another from the pitcher, then went to examine the half-full bookshelves. Most of the books appeared to be in Nea’thi, judging by the strange gilded lettering on the bound leather spines, but there were a few in the Human language. One particularly hefty tome was a dictionary, but there were volumes of Human history, along with psychology textbooks written by Human doctors.

  “Oh!” exclaimed Charlie, re-entering the room, “I’ll unpack the rest of those later. There’s some you might find interesting, there’s even some romantic novels,” he said with a wink. “Though I doubt you’ll have much time for pleasure reading, I’ve got a list here from the Academy of the texts you’ll need.” He fished in a pocket of his robe and pulled out a carefully folded piece of paper. I groaned, the list contained the titles of about twenty texts that I had to buy. The purse of coins my father had given me was generous, to be sure, but if I had to buy clothes as well…

  “Don’t worry Jas, textbooks are definitely classed as essentials for the Bloodkin, so the Academy will purchase them for you. It’s a rather wealthy institution, you know.”

  “Oh, ah, that’s good then. I was thinking perhaps I would need some new clothes and stuff. Most of mine are a bit wrecked from the ride.” Yes, my clothes had certainly suffered from hours on horseback, especially in the seat department, but curiously Charlie’s black robes hadn’t even a light covering of dust. I remembered I had noticed this when we first met and I commented on it now.

  “Nea’thi-weave, my friend. Imbued with all sorts of Hầұeӣ to ward off dirt and the like. I’ve never been much interested in the more domestic applications of the craft, so I really have no idea how they do it.” He paused, frowning at his robes. “I mean, I ca
n see what they’ve done, but how…” He grinned, “I guess that’s why I’m not a weaver! Of course Jas, we’ll get you some new clothes, I’m pretty sure they come under essentials too. We should get you some robes as well, which will mark you as Nea’thi-Blood. Handy in a big city.”

  Gosh, robes could be cool. They looked comfortable. And warm. Winters at home were reasonably mild, and it hardly ever snowed, but Lille was considerably further north than Jaelshead and warmth would be good. Not that I could ever imagine the Hall getting chilly, what with the number of fires I had already seen burning in the place, and I assumed the Academy itself would be similar, with the Nea’thi strong dislike of cold.

  Still, I reckoned I would cut rather a dashing figure in proper robes, and I bet girls would simply love a man who could do magic.

  “Alright JJ, ready to go?”

  I grabbed my coin-purse, just in case, and followed Charlie out of our rooms and down the hallway. It was quiet up here, everybody else must have had a head start on us. Down in the reception Eve gave us a friendly wave and confirmed it.

  “All the others are out and about already, you two had a good sleep-in! Are you settling in alright Jaseth?” She fixed me with her great orangey eyes.

  “Oh, yes, thank you Myn Eve, everything is most comfortable.”

  She chuckled and nodded at me. “That’s excellent. Oh, and before I forget, your horses have been taken to the common ostlery, out past the docks. They will be well looked after there and get plenty of exercise, don’t you worry! If you need them, just let me know and I’ll send a Journeyman down to fetch them for you. Useful creatures, these Journeymen, hardly seems ten years since you were one yourself Ϛaioћ! Now be back by dark you two, seeing as everyone is in residence now I thought we’d have a bit of a dinner party.”

  “That sounds marvellous, thank you Yұieӣấ, we will see you tonight.” Charlie grinned at her and he led me out through the massive front door and into the daylight.